Miss Martha Russell, who belonged to the galaxy of brilliant writers who were well known during the middle of the nineteenth century in New England, was born at North Branford, January 17, 1817, and had passed the eight-second milestone on life’s journey when on the 19th of April, 1899, she was called to the home beyond. During the last few years of her life she had resided in the home of her nephew, A. L. Russell, of Westfield, New Jersey. She was a direct descendant of Rev. John Russell, of Hadley, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Augustus and Lydia (Rose) Russell. The father was a son of Jonathan and Lydia (Barker) Russell. When forty-six years of age Jonathan Russell enlisted for active service in the Revolutionary war, joining Mr. Eell’s military company in 1777. He did not believe in the divine right of kings and at his request when a portrait was painted of little Lydia Rose she held in her hand the farewell to Charles I, king of England, written in 1635, when John Russell left London:

  “Mr. Right, I bid you good night,
  It is time for me to wander.
  I bought your geese at a penny apiece
  And left it with the gander.”

  The portrait of little Lydia is at the home of a lineal descendant, Mrs. Lucy M. Dow. It was Jonathan Russell’s son, Augustus Russell, who married Lydia Rose, a daughter of Justus and Lydia (Russell) Rose. This marriage was celebrated April 6, 1800, and they became the parents of eight children: Chauncey, who was born April 20, 1802, and married Lois Buel; Susan, who was born October 31, 1804, and became the wife of Daniel Hubbard, of Guilford, Connecticut; Lois, who was born May 8, 1808; Abigail, born January 20, 1811; Seth, born January 25, 1814; Martha, whose name introduces this record; Alfred, who was born July 22, 1819; and Bertha, who died in early childhood.

  The  youngest son of the family, Alfred Russell, was married March 6, 1845, to Caroline Harrison, a daughter of Dr. Increase Harrison. He served for more than three years in the Civil war, becoming first sergeant of Company H, Thirteenth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. He was severely wounded at the battle of Irish Bend, April 14, 1863, and was left for dead on the battlefield, but was later found by Colonel Homer B. Sprague and tenderly cared for. Eventually he recovered and rejoined his regiment, his term expiring January 6, 1865. He died at North Branford, October 7, 1895, having long survived his wife, who passed away August 15, 1867. Their children were: Lucy Martin, who was born March 22, 1845; John Augustus, who was born November 10, 1848, and who married Carrie Meade; Effie, who was born in 1851 and died in early life; Florence Rose, who was born August 27, 1854, and became the wife of S. W. F. Andrews, of East Haven, Connecticut; Bertha Harrison, who was born September 4, 1857, and married C. F. Holabird; Alfred Lovell, who was born August 4, 1861, and married Annie McCormick, of Westfield, New Jersey; and Arthur Whiting, who was born in 1867 and died March 7, 1876.

  It was at the home of Alfred Lovell Russell, of this family, that Miss Martha Russell spent her last days. She acquired her education through study at home, in the village school and in the academy at North Branford and early developed literary tastes and talents. She began writing for the press as early as 1840, her articles appearing in the National Era of Washington, D. C., the Knickerbocker Magazine, the Columbian Magazine and many other magazines and journals of that day. She published three books, one of which was entitled, “Leaves from the Tree Igdrasyl.” Her second work was called “Righted at Last,” or “Zerlina, the Autobiography of a New England Girl.” Her third volume was “Sibyl,” or “Out of the Shadow into the Sun.” Between 1862 and 1865 Miss Russell was war correspondent for the Worcester Spy, a leading paper of that day, published at Worcester, Massachusetts, for which she wrote under the name of “Zeb” from Washington, D. C., where she was employed by the government in translating French papers and doing other writing. In 1863 she composed a poem for the New England celebration on the 20th of December, 1863, held in memory of the landing of the Pilgrims. This poem was widely copied and elicited warm praise from John Greenleaf Whittier and other well known men of letters. Miss Russell was a member of the Congregational church and a woman of wide interests and deep sympathies whose writings were ever a factor in the uplift work to benefit humanity. Her influence was strongly felt in that regard and she won a place among the well known literary people of the nineteenth century.